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A Pizza Blog, Established In 2008Mon, 12 Feb 2018 08:58:14 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.4The Best Pizza Places In Israel (So Far…)http://idreamofpizza.com/2011/02/best-pizza-places-in-israel-so-far.html
Wed, 16 Feb 2011 14:56:00 +0000http://idreamofpizza.com/?p=208As you’re reading this, I’m probably wandering my way through the street of Jerusalem looking for a decent slice. Although this is my ninth trip to Israel, it wasn’t until a trip in 2010 that I started to explore Israel’s surprisingly dense pizza scene.

To recap… I believe that most pizza places in Israel fall into three categories:

1) Traditional, old school “pizza” places that make you rethink how you define pizza. These people might be found in small shops in the old city of Jerusalem cooking warm pita-like bread on ovens that look like they date back to the patriarchal days. I went to one place like this last year — Yeminite Food Bar in Safed.

2) Modern slice joints, similar to what you might find on the street corners of New York City. The main difference is that most of these places are inferior to your average pizza place in the city. They often have tables outside (space is more abundant in Israel and the weather is better) and rather than making pies with a single topping they will cook up pies with four different topping combinations, each relegated to it’s own quarter of the pie. Many are also kosher and do not serve meat on any pies. I tried four such places last year — Tito Bravo, Big Apple Pizza, Pizza Sababa, and Chili Pizzeria — all which were located in Jerusalem. Tito Bravo was easily the best.

3) Upscale, artisinal pizza joints that make pies similar to what you might find at Co and Motorino. These are few and far between, but while the first two types of places have been abundant in Israel for decades, the third is just beginning to make it’s mark on the Israel pizza scene. It is this category of pizza places that I believe has the most potential to expand its reach throughout urban areas of Israel over the next five years. I tried one such place last year and it was the best pizza I had in Israel. It was at a modest restaurant in the heart of Tel Aviv simply known as The Pizza (or in Hebrew, HaPizza).

Below are photos from each place I tried last year. Although I don’t anticipate getting to as many places on this trip, hopefully I’ll have time to squeeze in a slice or two.

By my estimate, I ate pizza at about 100 different places this past year — many for the first time. Thirty three lucky spots were reviewed on the site. Below is a notable pie (or in one case, a cone) that I ate at each of those places. My photography skills aren’t great (personally, I blame it on the camera), but I hope that the photos on I Dream Of Pizza over the past year have captured the pizza I ate as well as possible. And if you’re not hungry right now, hopefully you will be after scrolling through these pics. Enjoy!